We are aware of the turmoil that Pakistani sports have been going through, as the troubles never end. However, the country’s sports hit a new low when recently Mohammad Amir – one of the finest Pakistani cricketers among the significantly few top-ranked ones, announced retirement, citing the team’s constant disregard for management.
It is indeed a sad day for the sports-deprived Pakistan when top talent is forced to quit, in sheer disappointment, after facing constant neglect. Muhammad Amir is not the first person to do so, since he is following Hussain Shah’s footsteps, the winner of the only Olympic bronze medal that Pakistan holds. Hussain shah too left Pakistan for a better future in Japan. The Japanese instead utilized the talent and experience that could have been used to hone future local prospects here.
But is pugilist to be blamed for it? I don’t think so.
It’s not just boxing or cricket; we fail at every sport that we excelled in the past.
The Olympic contingent of a country with the 7th largest population in the world!
If the Olympics are any benchmark to gauge a country’s position concerning sports, the situation appears to be too bleak. With seven representatives from a population of 191.8 million (as per UN estimates), meaning one athlete for every 27 million, Pakistan sent its smallest-ever Olympics contingent in the latest Olympics, comprising more officials than athletes.
The Cook Islands, with a population of 15,000, had 9 participants, that is, one Olympic athlete per 1500 citizens. Jamaica had 59 athletes with a population of only 2.7 million, and many other countries with a population of less than 10 million had Olympic contingents bigger than Pakistan.
To make matters worse, even war-torn Iraq had 22 athletes.
No Good Athletes!
What adds insult to injury is the fact that no athlete qualified. All players were selected on the wild card basis, usually given to backward/developing countries that fail to be eligible for the Olympics, placing Pakistan in the same category as Afghanistan and Syria. The Pakistani squad did not win a single medal in the Olympics and returned empty-handed for the 5th consecutive time.
A Lack Of Accountability
After the Olympic charade, an inquiry commission should have been established to explain why we failed so miserably. If it were any other country, the presidents of all sports federations would have been sacked, but when has our government placed any attention to any sport except cricket?
The government remains indifferent to the plight of sports in Pakistan, except if it’s cricket, but then even cricketers are not being treated well, are they?
Sports in Pakistan have been declining for quite a while, yet there has been no interest on the government’s part in reviving them.
Government Not To Be Blamed Entirely
However, the entire blame does not rest with the government. Our obsession with cricket must be blamed as well. As a nation, our love for sports is never balanced. We only care about cricket. As a result, be it the government or the private sector, no one is interested in sponsoring athletes such as hockey players, boxers, tennis players, or runners. When was the last time you saw a non-cricket player featuring in the commercial of any product? Lack of sponsors is a significant reason forcing talent like Mohammad Waseem to abandon this country for good.
Behavior Towards Sports
If we want to revive sports in Pakistan, our behavior and attitudes towards sports would need to be changed. Only then could the government be forced to do something about the sports ordeal. Unless we show the same concern for other sports as we do for cricket and start holding the sport governing bodies accountable for their actions, we can bid adieu to sports in Pakistan.
By Ahsan Zafeer
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